in the economic environment, is the fundamental reason that central planning cannot work, even apart from the adverse implications of central planning for individual freedom. we use market institutions to allocate resources because doing so maximizes aggregate wealth. we don't use market institutions to allocate and reallocate resources in order to preserve jobs in any given industry. therefore, the structural unemployment that results from reductions in defense outlays is irrelevant and politically, even if it is highly relevant politically. to the extent that reductions in defense outlays reflect an improvement in international security environments, that improvement in yields an increase in national wealth in exactly the same sense that a reduction in crime does the same. while increased employment in a given economic sector or increased unemployment, rather, in a given economic sector is painful for those subjected to economic losses, it is not a loss for the economy as a whole, because the reallocation of resources in response to changes in relative prices increases the aggregate pro
